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Firefox 3 Sets Download 'Record' - Are You Using It?

Written by Josh Catone / June 18, 2008 7:34 AM / 23 Comments

Firefox has already surpassed the 5 million download mark it set out to meet in its first 24 hours. As I write this, the browser just passed the 7 million download mark for its version 3.0 software, and with over 6800 downloads per minute (and rising) is on track to do 8 million or more by 1pm ET (24 hours since the download went live). Whether that's a record is hard to say, but it's very impressive nonetheless. Are you using Firefox 3? Do you plan to upgrade?

You can watch the live count as it streams in from Mozilla's raw server logs, and according to the download day page, the majority of downloads have come from the US. Despite some hiccups yesterday, Firefox had no problem setting the record (though no one really seems to know if there was any old mark to break -- so anything might have been a record with Guinness watching).

Net Applications has been tracking the uptake of Firefox 3 since yesterday morning, and it is now at around 4.5% -- not bad for its first 24 hours. Firefox on the whole is closing in on 20% market share and is higher among tech savvy crowds (over 50% on this blog, for example). That 4.5% of Firefox web browser users are already using version 3 indicates that about 25% of its user base has upgraded overnight -- that's very impressive.

If you're still on the fence about upgrading, check out the pair of great overviews of FF3 from Lifehacker here and here.

Are you using Firefox 3? Do you plan to upgrade? Let us know in the comments and vote in our poll below.


Comments

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  1. Though there are few good upgrades and features, Firefox 3 doesnt look comfortable to be used in some areas such as - Firebug doesn't work even the latest 1.1 stable version, Downloading ( even saving pictures via 'savae pic as')seems to be quite slow, Even Javascript debugger doesn't work..

    Thats annoying me !!! will stick to previouos version

    Posted by: Vardaan | June 18, 2008 8:26 AM



  2. Have been looking forward to this download. So far I like what I see. Most of the extensions that I use are updated except I liked one for Windows Live Writer so now I have to do it the old way, but apart from that everything is going smoothly. I found help on Lifehacker on how to changed my mail handler to Gmail, otherwise I would have been a bit ticked off. That is something people would not generally know how to do and should have been anticipated I think. I left the link to that help on my site if anyone is looking for it.

    Posted by: Vic Grace | June 18, 2008 8:53 AM



  3. Yep. I have returned to FF as my main. I loved Safari/Webkit for its speed, but that's somewhat of a non-issues with FF3. Does anyone know what the record is??

    Posted by: Chris Pallé | June 18, 2008 8:55 AM



  4. cannot use google tool bar with firefox 3.0. a big problem for me!!!

    Posted by: Jack Brunner | June 18, 2008 9:02 AM



  5. Firefox 3 rocks and is super fast as promised. My favorite feature is saving tabs when it's closed. Optimize your FF3 experience with Firefox’s recommended add-on, the Me.dium Social Toolbar. Find us on AMO: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4365

    Friend pjn, gfigg, and jenniferlauren so we can surf around together in Me.dium and talk about how Fx3 kicks @$$!! http://blogme.dium.com/content/2008/06/welcome-firefox-3-users

    Posted by: Peter | June 18, 2008 9:02 AM



  6. thats odd, my google toolbar updated after FF3.0 install, and is working great now.

    you might want to try nightly tester tools extension. you can force compatibility for extensions. most of them work the same, but some are really broken by the upgrade in FF.

    Posted by: zeratul | June 18, 2008 9:12 AM



  7. Hmmm. I tried to vote (option #1), but when I click the button, it does nothing.

    Posted by: Devon Young | June 18, 2008 9:16 AM



  8. At the office I'm stuck with IE7 because of some Citrix apps that run only on that browser. It's a pain, sometimes...

    At home I use FF3 mainly for testing purposes, and I use Maxthon as my main browser. Maxthon is the more recent name for what used to be called MyIE, a browser based on the IE engine which had things like tabbed browsing and developer plugins similar to Firebug at a time when FF was far from being as mainstream as today, so that was very useful to test things in an IE environment. Plus a feature I worship: the built-in ability to create custom URL shortcuts/commands for use directly in the address bar. Get rid of the mouse altogether and bypass the search box to launch a search or whatever. Anyway, I like it, it works, so I stick with it until I'll really notice a difference with FF3.

    Posted by: Raph T. | June 18, 2008 9:16 AM



  9. How funny, their poll isn't firefox compatible!

    Posted by: royce | June 18, 2008 9:22 AM



  10. Using Flock 2.0 beta which runs on the FF3 engine ("sony guts")...very happy :)

    Posted by: joshua backer | June 18, 2008 9:45 AM



  11. Jeezo, it flies like a rocket, love it

    Posted by: eddie truman | June 18, 2008 9:46 AM



  12. Raph T.: Firefox does allow custom shortcuts, at least as far as searching through the address bar (for example, you can customize the keywords so that "g $searchterm" will look $searchterm up on Google. It might not be as efficient as another browser, but it does exist (or did on FF2 - I've yet to try it on FF3, too enthralled with the awesomebar's capabilities)

    I'm running FF3 right now, and I'm very happy with it; I got my mom to download yesterday, as well, so we contributed to the record-breaking a bit. My mom is very proud of herself for being in an older demographic that's typically less tech savvy, yet she's been using Firefox for years and was shocked when my uncle said that he still uses IE. A good sign; the market share is growing and the idea of an alternate browser besides the one loaded with the OS is really catching on, which can only mean a bigger and better future for a web-driven world.

    Posted by: Keakealani | June 18, 2008 11:08 AM



  13. It has reached 8.3 million, wow. Hope it reaches 1 Billion :)

    Jack Brunner. The Google Toolbar for Firefox 3 is available here and I am using it, works like a charm. It was available few days ago.

    http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/FT3/intl/en/index.html

    Posted by: Chris | June 18, 2008 11:19 AM



  14. Yep, using FF3 downloaded today morning, looks good so far

    Posted by: Saagar | June 18, 2008 1:06 PM



  15. Fast and elegant. I love it.

    Posted by: Peter Carter | June 18, 2008 1:11 PM



  16. I've been using Firefox since the Release Candidates...it is awesome. Plain and simple. I am humbled by how much the final version rules my world. *smile*

    Posted by: Bobby | June 18, 2008 6:10 PM



  17. Tried Firefox 3 on my Mac -- UNINSTALLED it after an hour.

    Yuck. Fugly default theme -- horrible icons. Looks as bad as IE7 to me. Bookmarks are no longer portable (WTF?!?! -- and just where are they located now?) Many extensions broken. Weird scrollbar behavior. Slow.

    Went back to FF2, which just works. Will wait for bugs to be fixed.

    Maybe it works better on PC. I'm not impressed.

    Posted by: bc | June 18, 2008 8:18 PM



  18. Getting this error in Firefox 3 and IE7 on all polls on this site:

    missing ; before statement
    http://polls.polldaddy.com/pollVote_V3.aspx?s=2637&b=1&p=710522&a=3690768,&o=&l=0&sl=1&pr=1&pt=0&va=16&cookie=1&rdm=10&url=http%3A//www.readwriteweb.com/archives/firefox_3_sets_download_record.php
    Line 1

    It prevents both viewing results and voting. Please fix or find a better widget!

    Posted by: Sean Robertson | June 19, 2008 6:23 AM



  19. The Firebug plugin (imo, the best reason for using Firefox) in FF3 has too many annoying bugs. I've gone back to FF2 until they are sorted out!

    Posted by: ric | June 22, 2008 7:24 AM



  20. The beta was touch and go for me, I almost didn't download the release as it was so problematic I reverted to the previous version.

    Posted by: JOBX | June 24, 2008 5:35 PM



  21. hi i am using firefox 3 . it gives amazing speed but my net is slow . is there any way to boost up the speed. i get 6kb/ps download speed . i want minimum 250kb/ps upto 2mb/ps download speed . is there any tweak or any other rhing , please tell me? i also used firetune latest version. it improves its speed but not the max

    SO PLEASE HELP ME!ANYONE!

    Posted by: dvy | June 26, 2008 3:21 AM



  22. ummm so I can't type 'javascript:' in the address bar to bring up the debugger? LAME

    Posted by: NIck | June 27, 2008 11:14 AM



  23. It's only a matter of time until Firefox 3 sets the record for "The most uninstalled software". I've already switched back to 2.0.0.14 and I know lots of other people unhappy enough with FF3 to go back to IE7 or try alternatives like Opera and Maxthon. The unfortunate thing is that all these browsers are lacking something the alternatives have. It seems like there will never be a mainstream browser that is compatible with all the others.

    Posted by: Jay | July 4, 2008 10:34 AM



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